


In Darkness

by prompreg



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Birth, Birth in Distress, Childbirth, Gladio POV, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Noctis is mentioned, Pregnancy, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Male Pregnancy, Trans Mpreg, Trans Pregnancy, Trans Prompto, graphic depiction of birth, hard labor, minor ot4, set post-crystal and months into WoR
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:55:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24176986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prompreg/pseuds/prompreg
Summary: If only the car hadn’t broken down, that piece of crap. They would have made it to civilization in time if it hadn’t. Prompto would have been able to labor in a hospital with a proper doctor and something strong for the pain. He wouldn’t have had the cleanest piece of fabric they owned ready to be stuffed into his mouth to keep him quiet and to bite down on. His only help wouldn’t have been a blind man and a guy who had never delivered a baby before, as demons prowled just outside the hastily barricaded door.But the car had broken down and there were no doctors or epidurals available, just the blind man quietly murmuring into Prompto’s ear and Gladio, helplessly wishing for a different outcome.==Or; Prompto goes into labor less than a year into the World of Ruin, and the three of them are woefully unprepared for it.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Comments: 12
Kudos: 89





	In Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for: trans male character being pregnant and in labor.
> 
> I wrote this over a year ago and was inspired by a prompt about a character giving birth and needing to be silent. So, early WoR with demons just outside.

There were demons right outside the door. Gladio could hear them wailing, even over the harsh sounds of Prompto’s labored breathing just beside him. The sounds of spawning and prowling demons was becoming as commonplace as birdsong once was, but none of them had quite gotten used to it, yet. Noct hadn’t even been gone a year, but already daylight made up a scant few hours a day. Each time the sun rose, Gladio wondered if it would be the last time.

But the sounds of demons was still unnerving, despite their frequency. Gladio didn’t like to admit it, but the scrape of an Iron Giant’s sword still struck him with fear. It didn’t help that the longer things went on, the further into his pregnancy Prompto marched. The fear that gripped Gladio every time a dark puddle of demonic viscera formed just feet from them was hardly for his own life, but for the lives he had sworn to protect. Noct might have been gone, but Ignis was still blind and Prompto was still pregnant and Noct’s blood was still with them, so long as the fetus survived long enough to be born.

So the sounds were normally unnerving and bone chilling but now, with Prompto actively laboring just beside him in the darkened shack they’d sought refuge in, just feet from creatures that could tear any of them in two on a good day, he was besides himself with fear. Fear for Prompto, who could hardly walk in his state. Fear for the child, yet unborn and already in so much danger. Fear that, when the people he loved needed him most, he would fail to protect them, just as he had with Noct.

A whimper of pain drew Gladio’s attention from the crack in a boarded up window to the man beside him. Prompto had been laboring for hours, now. What had started as a slight discomfort that still allowed them to travel had quickly turned into something more intense that had driven them to seek shelter. Now, Prompto was laying in the center of the small room with his head pillowed on a rolled up blanket, Ignis’ fingers gentle in his hair.

If only the car hadn’t broken down, that piece of crap. They would have made it to civilization in time if it hadn’t. Prompto would have been able to labor in a hospital with a proper doctor and something strong for the pain. He wouldn’t have had the cleanest piece of fabric they owned ready to be stuffed into his mouth to keep him quiet and to bite down on. His only help wouldn’t have been a blind man and a guy who had never delivered a baby before as demons prowled just outside the hastily barricaded door.

But the car had broken down and there were no doctors or epidurals available, just the blind man quietly murmuring into Prompto’s ear and Gladio, helplessly wishing for a different outcome.

Another contraction must have hit because Prompto made another muffled noise that Ignis gently shushed. Numbly, Gladio took the few steps required to join them in the center of the room and sunk to his knees besides two of the three men he loved most in the world.

“Update,” he whispered as quietly as he could. It still felt like screaming to him.

“Five minutes apart,” Ignis murmured back, still stroking Prompto’s damp hair. “It’s nearly time.”

They couldn’t share a look the way they used to when things seemed hopeless and they didn’t want the younger two to know but Ignis flashed him his pinched expression anyway and it was apparent to Gladio even in the dim light that there would be no moving Prompto, now. They were really about to bring a child into the world, the three of them, with no formal training between them.

Steeling himself, Gladio leaned down until his mouth was just beside the shell of Prompto’s ear.

“You’re doing great, kid,” he murmured, and pressed a kiss to the sweaty skin of his forehead. Prompto’s eyes were shining when they met Gladio’s, and the arms he reached up to wrap around his neck were trembling. Gladio let himself be pulled down, and wrapped arms around Prompto’s back to lift him the rest of the way up into the embrace. The swollen bump of Prompto’s stomach pressed into Gladio’s side.

“It’s okay,” he quietly soothed as Prompto pressed into his neck. Warm tears and gentle noises were caught by his skin but Gladio didn’t care. He pulled Prompto as close as he could, hunching over him as if his bulk could somehow protect him from the inevitable. Trembling hands fisted in his shirt and one in his hair but Gladio just kissed whatever he could reach and rubbed soothing circles into a heaving back.

He had never known fear the way he did in that moment, not even when he read the headline of the newspaper Ignis wordlessly handed him, now nearly two years ago. Not even when Noct disappeared into the crystal, because then he didn’t know exactly what it felt like to lose one of the three men he loved more than breathing. But now he had learned that lesson, and the knowledge that he could lose another was more than he could take. He wrapped strong arms around Prompto, and then groped with a hand until he found Ignis and pulled them both as close as he could, taking solace in the knowledge that, for now, he still had them both.

A particularly loud roar was what broke their desperate embrace. The noise of it startled them all apart for its intensity and its nearness. Ignis’ dagger was out and in his hand at once, which Gladio was thankful for. His sword was too large to swing around the small room, a point that unnerved him more than he cared to admit, but Ignis had grown rather adept at using his daggers in the dark. 

A warm hand touched his arm and Gladio watched Ignis rise to take a few steps closer to the window. Head tilted toward the threat, Ignis listened for several tense moments. They all seemed to hold their breath, and when Prompto clamped a desperate hand over his mouth, Gladio covered it with one of his own for good measure. It was only when Ignis lowered his dagger that Gladio removed his hand and looked down, his own muscles relaxing just slightly.

Prompto was still tense, though, with eyes clenched shut and hands fisted in the thick material of his pants. Gladio reached a hand between his tense legs and bit his lip when they came back damp.

“Let’s get these off,” Gladio murmured into Prompto’s ear and gently tugged at the waistband. Prompto’s eyes flew open, startled, and Gladio swallowed roughly when he saw just how scared those shining blue eyes were.

“Here?” he whispered, breathing harsh, and seemed to clamp his legs closed a little tighter.

“It’s happening,” Ignis replied, just as lowly, when he had rejoined them, “I should at least check your cervical dilation.”

Prompto’s terrified eyes moved between the two of them with increasing panic until Gladio put a grounding hand on his shoulder.

“Noct’s perpetually late, maybe his kid’ll wait til morning, too,” he joked quietly, thumb rubbing soothing circles into Prompto’s tense shoulder. “But we gotta check.”

Prompto didn’t allow them to strip his pants off until after the next contraction. It was a big one, painful enough that Prompto gripped Gladio’s hand and clung to it tightly for several long moments. When he relaxed, there were more tears in his lashes.

Gladio gently unbuttoned and unzipped them, mindful of the noise but also Prompto’s swollen stomach. Lifting his hips seemed to be a struggle, but Prompto managed it and Gladio tugged off the offending article, damp with fluids and harder to remove, inch by slow inch. When they were off, he folded them and set them aside as Ignis settled closer, warm hand on Prompto’s hip.

It was clear Prompto was warring with himself because it took another moment before he slowly spread his legs and let Ignis reach a hand between them. Gladio watched as two fingers slid into Prompto’s vagina, only to be pulled out and replaced by four. Prompto visibly shuddered but allowed the probing and Gladio reached a hand out to gently rub at one slightly trembling knee.

“Almost ten centimeters,” Ignis murmured as he retracted his hand. “It won’t be long.”

‘Long’ was subjective, however, because forty-five minutes of Prompto muffling his moans behind a hand or into Gladio’s neck later, when Ignis encouraged him to spread his legs and pressed four fingers back inside him, he was still stuck at 8 centimeters.

The noise Prompto made when he collapsed back onto the rolled up blanket was equal parts pained and frustrated. Gladio couldn’t blame him, the last forty-five minutes had been hard to even watch.

“Laying down may be stalling things,” Ignis suggested, murmured first into Prompto’s and then Gladio’s ears. So the two of them helped Prompto to rise, with some difficulty, onto his knees. Prompto had to pause there, breathing heavily and leaning into Gladio, for several minutes before he could get shaking legs under him. They had him settle into a squat with Gladio behind him to brace his weight as Ignis took point. 

Gladio couldn’t see what was going on in front, both from the lack of light in their small hiding place, and from the large swell of Prompto’s stomach blocking much from view, but Ignis hunched over and Prompto tensed against him, tight fingers scrabbling against his arms, so Gladio assumed all he was missing with another quick cervix check.

When it was done, Prompto leaned his head back against Gladio’s shoulder and whimpered, the sound so weak and pained it prompted Gladio to wrap protective arms around him a little tighter.

“You’re doing great,” he murmured against the side of Prompto’s head and gently smoothed a hand along the swollen mass of his stomach in a gesture he hoped was comforting. Prompto leaned into him a little more, practically nuzzling as he attempted to get closer, or maybe in a failed attempt at hiding from the pain, so Gladio assumed it was helping at least a little.

“Gladdy,” Prompto whispered, voice thin and clearly holding back tears, “I’m so scared.” 

It was the first time he’d heard Prompto admit it aloud, even though he knew they’d all been feeling it. Helpless, he kissed Prompto’s head and held on as tight as he could.

“I am, too,” he admitted, gentle, and continued his slow, soothing rubbing along Prompto’s tight stomach. “But you have this. And I have you.”

The next contraction was intense enough that Gladio could feel Prompto’s abdominal muscles jump beneath his hand. Prompto shoved a knuckle into his mouth and groaned around it, loud enough that Gladio froze. 

A demon bellowed, still so close, almost as if it was a returning call. 

Heart in his throat, Gladio placed a hand over Prompto’s mouth. The breath Prompto puffed against it was fast with fear and pain.

Ignis was turned toward the window again, a dagger in one hand. They all stayed as still and as quiet as possible, even through another contraction. Prompto’s whole body trembled through it but his sounds remained muffled by Gladio’s large hand. He removed it only once it had passed, and gently stroked Prompto’s hair for several moments when it was done.

They stayed like that for another half an hour, easily. Gladio would cover Prompto’s mouth through a rough contraction and they would all stay as still and silent as possible as the demon nearby roared its frustration. When the contraction had passed, Ignis would feel between Prompto’s legs and Gladio would murmur encouragement into his ear. 

It was only after that half hour that Ignis leaned in close to whisper, “ten” just loud enough for them both to hear. 

Almost as if given permission, after that Prompto was struck by the urge to push. Gladio knew because he gasped, sudden and loud, and clung to the hand Gladio quickly pressed over his mouth tightly. Then he tensed, tighter than he had before, and only released several moments later. When Gladio removed his hand from Prompto’s mouth, he was openly weeping.

“It hurts,” Prompto whimpered, body trembling against him, “gods, it hurts so bad.”

“It’s okay,” Gladio promised into the damp skin of Prompto’s temple, but Prompto shook his head violently in response.

“No, no, please,” he begged uselessly, body straining as if he could somehow climb away from the pain. Gladio shushed him and placed his hand back on Prompto’s mouth. The action made him feel like he was somehow the cause for his pain, and left a bitter taste in his own mouth.

“Breath,” Ignis instructed in front of them, one hand reaching for Prompto’s cheek. “Slow and deep.”

But the breath against Gladio’s hand was fast and shallow, clearly panicked, and he quietly cursed.

“C’mon baby,” he quietly encouraged, and let his free hand rub at Prompto’s tight stomach again. “Breathe in with me.” He slowed his own breathing, let each breath in and out with purpose, and stroked Prompto’s stomach soothingly until he finally tried to match their breathing.

Prompto’s was still faster, but had slowed considerably by the next few contractions. Warm tears dripped onto Gladio’s hand and he reached up to gently wipe them away.

“Is it out yet?” Prompto whimpered as he collapsed back into Gladio’s chest.

“Nothing yet,” Ignis murmured as he removed his hand and sat back against his heels. 

“Nothing?” Gladio asked, surprised.

“It can take hours,” Ignis replied with a quiet sigh. “We can stay here or try a different position.”

“My legs are falling asleep,” Prompto replied, and so they slowly had him stand and drop his weight onto Gladio’s arms. With both hands busy and unable to quiet Prompto’s moans, they replaced the fabric. He pushed like that, leaning heavily into Gladio, for several long moments, until he wasn’t able to hold any of his own weight at all.

“I can’t,” he cried into Gladio’s ear as they changed positions again, Gladio’s arms around his middle as he helped maneuver him back down onto the hastily rolled out blanket. 

“Lay down,” Gladio instructed, gently, as Prompto laid his head down, and pressed a kiss to his clammy forehead. The standard position was better for letting Prompto rest, and allowed Ignis to slip fingers back inside him. He probed for several long moments before finally retreating. When he spoke, it was in Gladio’s ear.  
“I can feel the head. It’s noticeably closer, now. I fear my lack of sight for this stage may not be ideal,” he quietly admitted. The tone of his voice compelled Gladio to place a hand on his arm. “How are we for light? Can you see?”

The lighting was dim, but moonlight and the Thunderbombs drifting outside had given them just enough light for his eyes to adjust to, thanks to the cracks in the hastily boarded up windows. He nodded, and then corrected himself with lips pressed to Ignis’ ear and a quiet, “Yes.”

“Good,” Ignis replied, “Take point. Make sure Prompto goes slowly. If the babe crowns too fast he could tear and we don’t have the medical supplies to deal with that.” Hesitating, Ignis placed a hand on Gladio’s. His grip was tight, desperate. “Deep tears can require surgery and with the demons outside…”

Gladio pulled Ignis against him for long enough to kiss his hair. The helplessness was so clear in his voice, and though Gladio felt the same hearing it from Ignis broke his heart.

“Gotcha, Iggy. Go slow.”

“And make sure you check ‘round the infant’s neck when the head is delivered. The cord is often wrapped and can--”

“Iggy, you’ve given me this crash course before,” Gladio cut in before Ignis could make himself any more frantic and pressed one last kiss to his head. “And you’re not going anywhere.”

A hand tight on his leg jerked his attention back to Prompto’s prone form. He quickly switched places with Ignis, who immediately stooped over Prompto to murmur into his ear. Prompto’s arms were gripping at Ignis, now, and his panicked, hushed babble was reserved for his ear. 

Gladio’s attention was now between his spread legs, to the slight bulge of his lips. He gently spread them and barely had to insert a finger to feel the solid form of the head, just out of sight. It was the strangest feeling, he thought, to feel the child still inside someone he loved. 

Prompto gasped, sudden and sharp around the makeshift gag, and Gladio’s wild eyes reached up in time to see Ignis smooth a hand over his mouth. The pained look on Prompto’s face killed him and he yearned to wipe away the tears that leaked past his clenched lids. But Ignis was there, now, gently wiping away tears and kissing the creases in his forehead. So he forced his eyes back down and watched, transfixed, as Prompto’s lips spread of what looked like their own accord, and the first hints of the child showed themselves.

Even with Ignis’ solid hand pressed firm to Prompto’s mouth, the noise Prompto made when the child’s head spread him enough to show itself was loud enough for concern. Filled with pain and panic, it jumpstarted Gladio’s heart. Ignis had that under control, though--he had to, because Gladio needed to focus elsewhere. Hand towel at the ready, he placed the fabric against Prompto’s spread entrance and gently wiped at the emerging head. 

“Take a deep breath,” Gladio heard Ignis murmur, “and push on your next contraction.”

When the next contraction hit, Prompto sucked in a breath and bore down hard, the force of which brought the head further into view. Shaken, it took Gladio a moment to remember to apply pressure to the head to keep it steady. He was quick to action, however, and applied a gentle hand to the tip of the head as it peaked past Prompto’s spread lips. 

When at last Prompto collapsed back against Ignis, the head slipped back inside.

Contraction after contraction, push after push, the child barely peaked beyond the swell of Prompto’s lips before slipping almost completely back inside. It was clearly wearing on Prompto and Gladio couldn’t blame him. Each whimper of pain that should have been a shout could draw the demons right to them and the longer labor progressed, the more pain Prompto had to hold back. He was getting increasingly distressed and desperate, his muffled noises of pain getting steadily louder despite Ignis’ best efforts.

When the next contraction wracked through Prompto’s frame, Gladio pushed Prompto’s legs back farther toward his chest, spreading him wider. This time, when the babe’s head started to crown, Gladio held Prompto’s legs back with one hand and used the other to assist, stretching his lips slightly as the crown of the baby’s head did the rest.

“C’mon, Prom,” Gladio encouraged, still holding his legs back and gently coaxing at his taught lips. “Give me another push.”

“It hurts,” Prompto whimpered, quiet and frail, the child’s head at last making some progress and keeping him stretched.

“Iggy, hold his legs back,” Gladio instructed, and guided Ignis’ hands. He grasped them, holding his thighs as best he could from the awkward angle, and Prompto bit at the makeshift gag.

The next push had the head crowning even more rapidly and Gladio, hands now free, was able to apply gentle pressure to keep it from stretching Prompto too quickly. Each small press of his hand pushed it back just slightly, but the increase in pressure no doubt helped the urge to push. Prompto pushed for longer than he had before, until what looked like the widest part was finally stretching his lips mercilessly. 

A single scream of pain was all it took, muffled as it was by the gag, to draw the attention of the demons waiting just outside. The Iron Giant outside their small hiding place roared, impossibly loud and so so close, and then a deafening crash from above them drew all their attention at once. Still unsure of their exact location, it seemed the Iron Giant was destroying the very house they sought refuge in, its huge blade having taken out a chunk of the floor above them.

Wide, terrified blue eyes caught Gladio’s and he held them for a tense moment before Ignis was drawing his attention, chapped lips leaning in close to his ear as he quietly moved closer.

“How far is it?” Ignis breathed, and Gladio wordlessly placed one of Ignis’ ungloved hands over the baby’s head, still stuck mid-crown. Gladio heard the way Ignis drew in his next breath, as if torn between wonder and terror.

Another loud clatter from upstairs pulled them away from the moment and Ignis frowned, face twisted with warring emotions.

“We need to leave,” he said, and Gladio watched as he placed a hand over the top of the slightly protruding head. “Keep him quiet and be ready to grab him the moment I say so.”

With that, Ignis applied enough pressure until what little progress Prompto had made disappeared slowly back inside him. Gladio watched, transfixed and slightly horrified, until a choked whimper brought him back to Prompto’s side.

“W-what’s happening?” Prompto demanded, pained and delirious.

“Getting you out of here,” Gladio replied, quiet, as Ignis pulled back and gave him a shaking thumbs-up. Immediately, Gladio gathered Prompto into his arms, careful as he moved his legs back together and mindful of the swell of his stomach as he hefted him into a bridal carry. Ignis was beside him at once, looking sick to his stomach as Prompto sagged into Gladio’s arms.

“Leave me if you must,” Ignis started to say, but Gladio roughly nudged him with a foot to quiet him.

“I’ll carry you on my back if I have to. Keep up.”

It was like that that they quietly snuck out of the back door of the house, just in time to watch Imps pour in from a hole torn into the side by the Iron Giant’s blade. Mouth dry, Gladio led them a little quicker away from the wreckage of what had been the only safe haven they could find, Prompto held tight in his arms.


End file.
